The Cranberries frontwoman Dolores O’Riordan drowned in a London hotel room bath after drinking alcohol, an inquest heard.

The Irish singer, from Kilmallock, Co Limerick, was pronounced dead aged 46 on January 15 at the Hilton Hotel in Park Lane where she had been staying while recording.

Coroner Shirley Radcliffe told an inquest at Westminster Coroner’s Court that the cause of death was drowning due to alcohol intoxication and concluded that the death was an accident.

Dolores O’Riordan drowned in the bath at the Hilton hotel in London’s Park Lane (Jonathan Brady/PA)

Pc Natalie Smart, who attended the scene, told the inquest: “I saw Mrs O’Riordan submerged in the bath with her nose and mouth fully under the water.”

The inquest heard that there were empty bottles in the room – five miniature bottles and a bottle of champagne – as well as containers of prescription drugs with a quantity of tablets in each container.

Toxiclocology tests showed only “therapeutic” amounts of medication in O’Riordan’s blood, but showed up 330mg of alcohol per 100mls of blood – meaning she was more than four times the 80mg legal limit for driving.

The coroner said it would seem that O’Riordan – who was wearing a long-sleeved vest and pyjama bottoms – became unconscious in the bath, adding: “There’s no evidence that this was anything other than an accident.”